Forget about Orson Scott Card and John C. Wright, here are eight gay-inclusive sci-fi/fantasy writers

Fantasy author Lynn Flewelling is best known for her Nightrunner series and the Tamir trilogy.  The two lead characters of the Nightrunner trilogy are a same-sex couple, and she is very open to playing with gender issues as well. I recommend her books to anyone who stands still too long! ;)

She identifies as lesbian and has consistently made gay men and lesbians the heroes/heroines of her books.  In her Four Quarters books, 'Sing the Four Quarters' has a lesbian protagonist who finds herself pregnant after a drunken evening~ the baby has an important role to play, which is good, because the heroine's partner is none too pleased with this development.  The following books introduce a pair of assassins, one of whom is a gay man. The assassin turns up again in The Quartered Sea, an excellent fantasy based on MezoAmerican cultures, also with a gay hero.  She has a gay vampire series too. Go Tanya! 

 

She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain~ Louisa May Alcott

His The Man Who Folded Himself is one of the best gay sci-fi novels I've ever read.

She has written several fantasy novels with same-sex couples, including Swordspoint, The Privilege of the Sword, and The Fall of the Kings (that last one co-authored with her wife Delia Sherman). Good stuff.

I think that John Varley should definatly be looked into if your looking for Gay friendly or even interesting themes, especially his short stories like Options. Options is about a woman in a future society that decides to change her gender, which can be done quickly and easily, but her husband doesn't really approve. It's a pretty good read.

Kerr's epic Deverry series (the last book is due this year) is simply amazing, and includes gay, lesbian, and bisexual heroes and villains.  (i should mention that her villains are occasionally pedophiles, so these might not be child-friendly books.) 

i highly, highly recommend her books -- they manage to be gritty and realistic while still maintaining all the fun of pure high fantasy. 

was reputed to be gay (and one of my college professors confirmed this to my entire class), and while i don't think any of his characters are gay per se, many consider his books to have subtle gay themes woven throughout. 

I loved the book Fledgling by Octavia Butler. I've never read the Parable books. I have been searching the used book stores, trying to come across The Forever War. I read somewhere that Ridley Scott may direct a movie version of it. Let's hope they don't get rid of the gay element.

If anyone is interested, my novel, Origination, is due out in November. It is Fantasy/Sci-fi, 460 + pages. You can win a free copy by joining the Origination Contest. Go to www.reblakeslee.com to find out the details. You can also read an excerpt.  

 

 

Origination by R.E. Blakeslee - Read the book!

Ursula K. Le Guin--"The Left Hand of Darkness," among others.

"The mountain has wings."

Great list. I've read some of these, but not others. I'll have to add those to my reading list.

I didn't see Heinlein as being pro-gay in Stranger in a Strange Land, though. I was looking forward to the book, since it came highly reccomended by many. But it came accross to me as sexist, racist (or xenophobic, anyway), and anti-gay. There are a couple of points in the story where same sex desire is described as wrong or unnatural. However, I have not read Time Enough to Love.

While his later work is post-Singularity work that's so popular these days, Charles Stross' early work was about a James Bond-like civil servant named Bob Howard who worked in a branch of the British secret service that deals with the use of the occult as technology. It's a weird hybrid, how math can invoke monsters from other dimensions, and it's surprisingly funny.

In the first book, The Atrocity Archives, Bob has a pair of roommates he also works with named Pinky and Brains (yep, that kind of humor) who are revealed to be a gay couple. They feature more prominently in the second book of the series, The Jennifer Morgue.

Neither books give their relationship a lot of time - it just is. There's a brief discussion of why they're a perfect couple in the first book, but beyond that, they're just characters, and it was refreshing.

Those are certainly the heavy hitters.

Im recomending China Mountain Zhang from Maureen McHugh, its a very good book where the protagonist is gay in a future world ruled by China.

And give Geoff Ryman a try, he has many, of which I have only read Lust, a good book although because of its subject matter it got a little slashy, but its a good read. And as I understand it he has a book that reimagines or parallels The Wizard of Oz in a gay inclusive way, so that should appeal to many. 

IIRC, Greg Bear's Anvil of Stars (the sequel to The Forge of God) has gay characters.  Or at least one gay character who is in love with the book's main character.  It's a post-Earth story of a group of kids traveling through the cosmos, seeking revenge for the destruction of our planet.  An element of the story though is that any prejudices toward sexuality that the kids might have had on Earth never formed, so you see pure relationships as the kids want.  That's how I remember it anyway.  Very good sci-fi books.

Vanyel went to live with his Aunt Savil, the Herald-Mage, who was housed in the Royal Palace, specifically in the Herald's Collegium, which was part of the larger palace complex in the capital city of Haven.  It was NOT his Aunt's castle as stated in the synopsis.  It is a minor point, but it implies that the Ashkevron family was Royal, which they weren't.

Other than that minor quibble...great article!

Her Darkover novels were some of my favorite and have been for over 40 years.

Two of her major characters in series were Regis Hastur and his paxman Danilo Syrtis they met and fell in love when they were teens in The Heritage of Hastur and spent the rest of their lives together over quite a few of the many novels.

She created a fascinating world with various telepathic "gifts". 

I read his 'Lust' when I was younger and it left an indelible impression- a gay scientist based in London mysteriously develops the ability to physically summon into existence a 'copy' of anyone past and present he desires sexually- from Alexander the Great to Billie Holliday via his personal trainer at the gym and the All Black rugby team, but this new talent has a darker, more disturbing origin and dealing with it, as well as his burgeoning mid-life crisis, impotence and controversial research project all lead him to some startling and moving self discoveries. This could have been mere erotic nonsense, and some of the material is controversial to say the least- but Ryman handles his protagonist with such compassion, it can hardly fail to move you. I love it when Science Fiction elegantly bores into the controversies and taboos we hold too hot to handly, and this one did it with memorable panache. I've never come across any of his other books, but his is certainly a name I sub-consciously look out for on bookshelves.

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"He piled upon the whale's white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar; he burst his hotheart's shell upon it."

Melville, 'Moby Dick'

I'm eager to try some of these books (I've often thought gay scifi/fantasy wasn't as interestingly written).  However, if you're into historical/romance/fantasy, you might want to read the Lord John series (a spinoff of the Outlander series) by Diana Gabaldon.

I do have to agree about Samuel Delaney, though.  Very poetic, but difficult to read.  I tried reading his autobiography and tended to snooze until I had to give it up.

Another terrific writer.  Shockwave Rider is a great example of early cyberpunk and coined the term "worm"  in reference to a damaging software program.   In one of his books, maybe Stand on Zanzibar or The Sheep Look Up, one of the lead characters has a sex change and becomes a much happier person.

The first "gay" scifi book I got was CHROME by George Nadar in the late 70s. 

This was first published in 1978 (I think).  Here is a man in his late 50s writing a future society book with a gay leading man.  It was the only book he wrote, so there are no further adventures for Chrome and his gang, but, to me, it felt good to read a story with being gay was no big deal.

Advisory: some smut is included in the story. But if you're gay, you've probably already done what is written in the love scene.

Jack L. Chalker wrote the Wellworld series that most certainly was gay friendly. It has gender changing characters along with species changing characters that do fall in love with the same sex.  It's a fascinating series.

Great idea for a post! Reading Mercedes Lackey's books in junior high, I encountered positive portrayals of gay characters for the first time. Several of the other authors mentioned so far have been new to me. Thanks for giving me a reason to go to the library!

Mercedes Lackey is my favorite fantasy writer of all time and I don't think I'm exagerating when I say her books changed my life. My freshman year of college, I was just figuring out that I was a lesbian (I now identify as bi) and I was falling hard for my roommate. Reading her Last Herald Mage Trilogy about a teenage boy falling in love with HIS roommate... it was just too perfect. Those books really helped me figure out myself and my own feelings in addition to just being fantastic books. She has remained my favorite author ever since and I have read all of her books based in that world (she has others that I have not read), ALL of which include some gay characters.

 

"It's weird. It's just different. It's not men. It's just him. It's only him." - Ianto Jones

In "Songs of Distant Earth" The colonial society is majority bisexual. one of the boys in the book in particular was said to have slept with most of his classmates both girls and boys. The book also describes him in very loving terms.

The saga/love story of Fool and Fitz which begins in Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy and comes to a head in her Tawny Man trilogy is probably one of my favorite fantasy stories of all time.

There is also Mark Anthony's Last Rune series. 

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/a/mark-anthony/

 

AlsoI love Mercedes Lackey...I cry still everytime I read the Last Heard Mage (and I have read it at least 30 times)

Don't forget:

Ricardo Pinto's series The Stone Dance of the Chamelon. Ricardo is an out gay man and the hero of the trilogy is also gay.

Jacqueline Carey's Terr Ange novels which are very queer friendly, especially the original trilogy focussing on Phedre.

 

 

 

I was so happy to see him on this list!  I have read and re-read Dhalgren (almost once a year since I was 21, and NO DON'T ASK HOW LONG THAT WAS) and have enjoyed his other work as well.  I once tracked down an email address for him, and wrote him a long effusive email, and he responded very kindly.

Dhalgren was very formative in my early years as a gay man.....

I would like to add, if it hasn't been mentioned, Nicola Griffith's Nebula Award winning novel "Slow River" (don't know about her other books).

I must also give props to Marion Zimmer Bradley' Darkover novels. Some are pure juveniles (she wrote them over many years, so the more recent books are far superior writing) but the Regis Hastur/Danilo Styrtis love story, told over many novels, is my favorite in all my years of SF/fantasy reading (and that is a LOT of years! ).

I've only read a few of his novels, but as a young man just coming out they were my first exposure to any gay characters in literature.  Not high fantasy but "Brothers of the Dragon" and its sequels were still fun, easy reads in a "guilty pleasures" sort of way.

Sarah Monette (Melusine, The Virtu, The Mirador, Corambis, plus the short story collection The Bone Key) is a new favorite of mine -- complex, damaged characters in richly imagined worlds.  Her series favors a great part-Dickensian, part Renaissance Europe feeling to its cities and countries, and of her two leads (half-brothers), one is openly gay.  The Bone Key, which features excellent, traditional chlling horror tales (more atmosphere than gore) all center around Kyle Murchison Booth, an aloof but endearing gay museum archivist.

Sherwood Smith's latest series for adults (Inda, The Fox, King's Shield, and just recently Treason's Shore) features a large cast of intriguing characters, including one of the major leads: Evred, destined to be king, is gay (as was his father).  She also includes as a major character Tau, a bisexual man. In Inda's world, no one much cares who you fall in love with or sleep with -- marriage is intended to be a political partnership, and necessary for the heirarchy of the world, but it's readily acknowledged that nobility won't necessarily fall in love with their spouses, and same-sex partnerships are highly valued.

Elizabeth Bear has some great gay characters among her books -- I'm partial to New Amsterdam myself, although for more traditional sci-fi try Carnival.

In teen fantasy lit, there are even more: Holly Black's been very inclusive (one of the major characters in her first teen novel, Tithe, is gay.)   There's certainly potential in Melissa Marr's books (one character is gay, definitely) but it would depend on how the series unwinds.  You know, now that I think about it, I can think of tons of great gay teen books, but none of them are sci-fi or fantasy.  That's disappointing!